As is known by those skilled in the orthodontic art, existing orthodontic appliances ("tooth braces") purport to provide holistic prescriptions which can match all variations of individual dental occlusions to a particular population and anatomic mean. An appliance manufacturer's recommended single and non-customized orthodontic prescription appliance (tooth braces) may presently form the entire inventory of an orthodontist's office. For primarily these reasons, dental braces (orthodontic) appliance systems may have been applied by dental clinicians without the necessary absolute regard to variation in dental occlusal morphology and jaw dynamics, for and of individual patients in the population.
As is known to dental anatomists and orthodontists, each individual patient has anatomically individual characteristics with respect to dental tooth form and inherent dental occlusion that identify the individual as distinct from all others, however similar these may superficially appear. Each individual patient has an absolute, solitary dental occlusal signature that is unique to that patient. Therefore, the present practice of application of a "standardized" or "normalized" prescription for tooth positioning in dental appliance therapy in orthodontics, does not satisfy the entire demands of the individual dental prescription in a direct manner and moreover, this practice tenet relies heavily on the assumption that each individual patient will follow the central tendency of the patient population.
Therefore with all things equal, it may be appreciated that fixed orthodontic tooth attachments or tooth braces manufactured to a mean derived appliance prescription will satisfy dental occlusal requirements in any individual treatment case in the dental clinic only with subsequent individualized modifications. This contrasts to this aforesaid popularized and manufactured "blanket" orthodontic appliance approach in orthodontic mechanotherapy. The correct approach to orthodontic appliance implementation relies on the clinician to judge shortfalls during the treatment process, but most desirably, allows planned and sequenced steps prior to actual treatment implementation. The shortcoming of the present approach in orthodontic prescription is that the prescription of the absolutely correct appliance for an individual patient during the diagnostic and prognostic stage of patient care has seemingly become irrelevant, rather than absolutely necessary, to avoid any replication of treatment stages and this approach produces unnecessary "appliance induced" steps which could be potentially biologically harmful, during the long orthodontic treatment period (18-24 months) with tooth braces.
In order to overcome the deficiencies of the present state of the art in orthodontic treatment, applicant has invented a novel apparatus and method that provides for accurate and valid assessment of tooth positions and dental occlusion, so that projected optimal orthodontic appliance prescription for a particular individual patient is obtained prior to initiation of the treatment process. Calibration of tooth positions from a mechanical appraisal of physiologic individual characteristics allows provision for the optimal orthodontic appliance or tooth braces prescription prior to initiation of any orthodontic treatment. The invention minimizes incipient modification of the orthodontic appliance components during the lengthy orthodontic treatment period Thus, the present invention fulfills all of the necessary individual requirements in prescribing individual orthodontic appliances presently lacking in available appliance systems, which are designed for only an "average patient" or which are applied ad libitum to the population using the so called "anatomic mean".